Environmental impact assessment of municipal waste management in Omidieh city by LCA process

Increasing the volume of municipal solid waste on a global scale and the consequently environmental challenges followed by the lack of appropriate waste management systems in some societies, increase the importance of using environmental friendly waste management systems in different region of the world. The followed aim of present study is to use the life cycle assessment methodology to investigate different ways of disposal and refining of municipal solid waste in Omidieh city.

For this purpose, in line with the goals and scope defined in the life cycle process, three scenarios as: landfill, compost and landfill, compost, recycling and landfill were defined and life cycle inventory was performed using the IWM-2 model. In the last stage, the environmental impact assessment of each scenario investigated as six categories based on ISO14042 guidelines framework.

 The findings of present study indicate that by processing the different fraction of municipal solid waste with compost and recycling, not only can reduce the volume of landfill waste significantly, but also can minimizing the environmental effects of municipal solid waste for third scenario compared to the other two scenarios.

The results of the life cycle assessment process performed in present study clearly shows the suitability of third scenario for neglecting the environmental effects of municipal solid waste management system in Omidieh city.